Snap-on baseboard



W. J. AMATO SNAP-ON BASEBOARD Sept. 2, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 21, 1967 Fig.4

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United States Patent 3,464,177 SNAP-0N BASEBOARD William J. Amato, 4187 Regal Ave., Brunswick, Ohio 44212 Filed Nov. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 684,846 Int. Cl. E041 19/02 US. Cl. 52--237 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A clamp-on room baseboard, having wall mounted means to which the baseboard may be easily secured, or detach-ed, without the use of tools.

This invention relates to the final trim for rooms, and particularly to a novel baseboard construction for covering the junction of the room wall and floor, that may be quickly and easily installed, or removed, without reqniring any skill or expertise.

Conducive to a better understanding of the invention it may be well to point out that the installation of conventional wood moldings or 'baseboards requires special skill in matching the adjacent sections, mitering the joints, at inside or outside corners, nailing in place, filling in the nail holes, sanding and finishing.

When remodeling a building, such baseboards must be carefully removed, to prevent splintering, etc., and then renailed in place, with consequent refinishing operations.

When redecorating, care must be taken not to overlap the wall decoration onto the baseboard, or the baseboard finish onto the floor or carpeting, in the case of rooms having wall-to-wall carpeting.

The primary object of my invention, therefore, is to provide final room trim in the form of a series of elongated extruded metal, or plastic, panels shaped to simulate a section of the baseboard of a room, that may be easily snapped-onto, or off, a plurality of brackets, or clamps, mounted on the room wall at its junction with the floor.

Another object is to provide a snap-on baseboard, of the type described, whose adjacent panel sections need not be accurately cut to length, but are joined through slidably interfitted coupling means.

Still another object is to provide such baseboard panels that are made of extruded plastic material having high impact strength and homogeneous coloring, that will maintain its fresh appearance under hard usage without ever requiring refinishing.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following specification and claims, together with the accompanying drawing, wherein like parts are referred to and indicated by like reference numerals, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a room, showing the snap-on baseboard, that is the subject of the invention, in both its semi-assembled and fully assembled condition;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged perspective view of an inside comer of the fully assembled baseboard structure, with parts broken away and in section;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view of one of the baseboard panels;

FIGURE 4 is a left end view of one of the baseboard mounting brackets;

FIGURE 5 is an end view of an end cap;

FIGURE 6 is a front elevational view of the same;

FIGURE 7 is a bottom plan view of the same;

FIGURE 8 is an end view of an outside corner coupler;

FIGURE 9 is a bottom plan view of the same;

FIGURE 10 is an end view of an inside corner coupler;

FIGURE 11 is bottom plan view of the same;

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FIGURE 12 is a bottom plan view of a straight coupler;

FIGURE 13 is a vertical sectional view of an alternate form of baseboard panel; and

FIGURE 14 is a left end view of an alternate form of mounting bracket.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, there is seen in FIGURE 1 the snap-on baseboard, that is the subject of the invention broadly indicated by reference numeral 10, mounted on the wall 11 of a room at its junction with the floor 12.

The baseboard 10 comprises a series of elongated panels 20, shaped to simulate a conventional wood baseboard, mounted on spaced brackets 13 secured to the room wall 11, and joined end to end through appropriate coupling means 50, 60, 70, and terminating at the door opening in an end cap 40.

Each panel is a unitary extrusion formed from metal or a suitable plastic compound having high impact strength.

As seen most clearly in FIGURE 3 the panel 20 has a vertically extending section 21 terminating along its lower edge in a rearwardly directed inclined foot 22, and along its upper edge in a rearwardly and upwardly inclined cap 23. It is to be understood that the cap 23 may be giveii other shapes in simulation of conventional wood baseboard assemblies.

Reference numeral 24 indicates a dependent flange formed integral with the cap 23, at the rear edge thereof. The flange 24 has a flat rear face that is angularly inclined toward the plane of the vertical section 21. The preferred angle of inclination is approximately 5". The forward face of the flange 24 has a horizontal V shaped groove 25 extending the length thereof, as seen in both FIGURES 2 and 3.

The rear face of the vertical panel section 21 has a series of parallel ribs 26, extending the length thereof, to provide a friction surface to be engaged by the coupler elements 40, 50, 60 and 70, described hereinafter.

Each bracket member 13 is fabricated from a single rectangular piece of flexible sheet material, shaped as shown most clearly in FIGURE 4. The formed bracket 13 has a flat base 15 with a flat, vertically extending, section 14 at the rear end thereof and a rearwardly inclined seat 16 at the forward end thereof. The angular inclination of the seat 16 is identical with that of the panel foot 22. Reference numeral 17 indicates a latch section, at the upper end of the vertical section 14, bent forwardly and backwardly upon itself to provide a horizontal latch clamp 18, lying in the vertical plane of section 14.

Since it is obvious that a series of baseboard panels 20 are required to be aligned end-to-end to form the complete structure 10, illustrated in FIGURE 1, special coupling means are required to conceal the joints be tween adjacent panels, as well as at inside and outside corners, and at the exposed ends of the panels at room door openings, etc.

FIGURES 5, 6 and 7 show the construction of a right end cap 40. The construction of a left end cap is, of course, the reverse. The end cap has a front wall 41 shaped to fit flat against its mating panel 20, a matching end wall 42 to close the end of the panel, as seen in FIGURE 1, and an inner wall 44 spaced rearwardly of the front wall 41 to provide a vertical slot 45 therebetween. The inner surface 45 of the front wall 41 is ribbed to provide a friction surface.

Construction of an outside-corner coupler is shown in FIGURES 8 and 9. Such a coupler has a front wall 51, a side wall 52, both ribbed on their rear surfaces 53, and an inner wall 54 spaced rearwardly of both front and side walls 51 and 52 to provide vertical slots 55 therebetween.

Construction of an inside-corner coupler 60 is shown in FIGURES and 11. Such a coupler has a front wall 61, a side wall 62, both ribbed on their rear surfaces 63, and an inner wall 64 spaced rearwardly of both front and side walls 61 and 62 to provide vertical slots 65 therebetween.

Construction of a straight coupler 70 is shown in FIG- URE 12. Such a coupler has only a front wall 71, ribbed on its rear surface, and an inner wall 73 spaced therefrom to provide two spaced vertical slots 74.

It is to be understood that the several couplers are made of the same material as the panels 20 and have the same finish, so as to blend into and form a continuous structure.

To mount the complete baseboard structure 10 on the wall 11 of the room illustrated in FIGURE 1, the following procedure is followed:

Brackets 13 are spaced, in alignment with the Wall studs, against the wall 11, at the floor 12, with their bases 15 resting on the floor, and secured in place by nails or screws 19 driven through their vertical sections 14. The latch clamps 18, of the so mounted brackets, will bear against the wall 11.

The baseboard panel 20 is then positioned over the brackets 13 with its dependent flange 24 resting against the wall 11 just above the bracket latches 18 and its foot 22 aligned with the bracket seats 16. Straight downward pressure is then exerted on the panel 20 until the flange 24 is positioned between the wall 11 and the bracket latch 18, with the latch located in the flange groove 25 and the panel foot 22 resting on the bracket seat 16, as is most clearly seen in FIGURE 2.

The pressure exerted by the bracket latch 18 in forcing the angularly inclined rear face of the flange 24 flat against the vertical wall surface 11 causes the panel foot 22 to tilt rearwardly and downwardly against the bracket seat 16.

The so engaged panel 20 is firmly clamped in place against the wall and floor. The so mounted panel 20 can be intentionally removed by pulling it straight upward and away from the latch 18.

The several baseboard panels are cut to length and their cap ends 23 cut back about A", to provide a notch 27, as seen in FIGURES 1 and 2, so that their caps 23 will not interfere with the mounting of the coupler units.

On straight runs, adjacent panels are joined by fitting the slots 74 of a straight coupler 70 over the aligned ends of the panels and pushing downward until the coupler fits flat against the panels, where it is held in place by the frictional inter-action of the surface ribbing of the several parts.

To form outside or inside corner joints, the coupler 50 or 60, respectively, is similarly mounted over adjacent panel ends.

The so mounted couplers can be intentionally removed by exerting sufiicient upward pull to overcome the frictional drag of the ribbing. Due to the play allowed by the coupler slots, the panels 20 need not be cut to close limits, since the couplers will compensate for minor inaccuracies. Thus no great amount of skill is required on the part of the workman in mounting the baseboard just described.

An alternate form of baseboard panel construction, broadly indicated by reference numerals 80 and 90, is illustrated in FIGURES 13 and 14.

In this form the extruded baseboard panel 80 has a vertically extending section 81, terminating at its upper end in a rearwardly and upwardly inclined cap 82. Reference numeral 83 indicates a dependent flange formed integral with the cap 82 along the rear edge thereof. In this form, the flat rear surface of the flange 83 is parallel to the plane of the vertical section 81. The forward face of the flange 83 has a horizontal V-shaped groove 85 extending the length thereof. A bead 84 extends along the upper edge of the cap 82, beyond the flange 83. A stiffening rib 89 is molded in the vertical section 81, spaced upwardly of its lower edge. Reference numeral 87 indicates a dependent flexible clamp extending the length of the panel forming a slot 88 for the reception of the finger 93 of the mounting bracket 90, described below. The rear face of section 81 has friction ribbing indicated by reference numeral 86.

In this embodiment of the device the mounting bracket 90, as seen in FIGURE 14, has a flat base 92 with a flat, vertically extending section 91 at the rear end thereof and a vertically extending flat finger 93 at the forward end thereof, adapted to be received in the panel slot 88 against the clamp 87.

Reference numeral 94 indicates a latch section at the upper end of the vertical section 91, bent forwardly and backwardly upon itself to provide a horizontal latch clamp 95 lying in the vertical plane of section 91.

In this alternate form of the invention, the brackets are mounted in place in the same manner as are the brackets 13 described hereinabove.

The baseboard panel 80 is mounted on the brackets 90 with its flange 83 pressed flat against the wall 11 by the engagement of the latch clamp with the flange groove 85 and with the bracket finger 93 positioned in the panel slot 88 and pressed against the rear face of section 81 by the clamp 87. With panel 80 so mounted, its rib 84 presses against the room wall to provide a continuous seal along the upper edge of the panel, while its bottom edge is held in place by the clamp 87.

Again, to remove the panel 80 it is only necessary to intentionally exert an upward pull on the panel.

Since both forms of baseboard paneling described can be easily snapped in, or out, of place without the use of tools the maintenance of the rooms in which they are located is greatly simplified.

If the baseboard is to be washed, it can be easil dismounted for cleaning and then replaced, without danger of soiling or wetting the wall above or the floor covering below.

Again, if the room walls are to be painted or papered, temporary removal of the baseboard greatly simplifies the procedure.

Since no nails, or other mounting means, need be driven through the face of the baseboard it can be removed and re-located, after structural changes in a building, without damage and without requiring refinishing.

I claim:

1. A baseboard structure, comprising in combination, a series of elongated relatively flexible panels, each shaped to define a section of the baseboard of a room; each panel having a vertically extending front face terminating, along its lower edge, in a rearwardly directed foot, said foot having a lower inclined surface in upwardly divergent relation to said front face, said panel terminating along its upper edge in a rearwardly extending cap; said cap having a concealed dependent flange, formed integral therewith, along its rear edge, spaced rearwardly of the panel vertical front face; the rear face of said flange being flat and said flange being angularly inclined toward the vertical plane of the panel front face;

the forward face of said flange having a horizontal groove extending the length thereof; and, spaced bracket means mounted at the junction of the room wall and floor, concealed to the rear of said panels, supporting said panels In snug engagement against the wall and floor; each of said bracket means comprising a sheet material unit having a flat base section, on the room floor, and a flat upright section joined to the rear edge of the base section, extending vertically, at right angles thereto, and anchored flat against the room wall; the upper end of said upright section terminating in a flexible latch, normally lying in the plane of the upright section, against the wall; the base section including an upwardly extending inclined flange disposed at an acute angle to said base, the inclination of the base flange corresponding to the inclination of said surface on the panel foot to thereby provide a seat for the panel foot surface; each of the panels being mounted on the brackets with the panel flange nested between the bracket latch and wall, with the latch pressed into the flange groove, and with the panel foot positioned against the bracket seat, the inclination of said dependent 5 flange relative to the panel face urging said foot surface tightly against the inclined flange on the bracket base.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS HENRY C.

9/1931 Murphy 52718 6/1940 Wollaeger 52717 6/1960 Nelsson 52--7l7 FOREIGN PATENTS 8/ 1959 Australia. 12/1964 Canada. 10/ 1962 France.

12/ 1964 Switzerland.

SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

